This magisterial survey of the Prophet Muhammad in French and English literature over 350 years is both a cross-cultural history and a discussion of the intellectual changes in the representation of the Prophet's life based the close examination of original published and unpublished manuscripts. It is in the mid-seventeenth century that serious Western responses to Muhammad first emerge, but the now common acceptance of his status as Prophet has been relatively recent. While there have many attempts to renew Islamic studies in the West, Gunny argues that it is not necessary to discard Islamic sources to achieve this aim.

Praise for Ahmad Gunny’s work:

Ahmad Gunny has been a pioneer in the study of French and European literary and theological representations of Islam in the modern period. Thanks to his acclaimed critical studies, as well as to his definitive editions of Voltaire, students and scholars alike have found in his work new and important directions for research.

Professor Nabil Matar,
University of Minnesota and author of Islam in Britain, 1558-1685.

Ahmad Gunny's fresh approach to the image of Muhammad in French literature of the eighteenth century complicates the extant understanding of the subject. Rather than trying to expose once again a Western prejudice against Islam, he explores the many different views of Muhammad that existed during the period of Enlightenment. What results is a more nuanced and sophisticated study of this important topic.

Francois Zabbal,
Institute du Monde Arabe, Paris

Product Reviews for The Prophet Muhammad in French and English Literature, 1650 to the Present (Ahmad Gunny)